Eugene O'Neill, master of American theatre

O'Neill introduced a psychological and social realism to the American scene. As the journey of a masterpiece Day long into the night opens to the west end, Sarah Churchwell assesses its impact on modern drama In June 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald has received a letter from his friend Edmund Wilson, in which he describes the meeting of Eugene O'Neill: "It is extraordinarily interesting," wrote Mr Wilson. "Meeting in respect of the bonus Anna Christie as undesirable or older and think it's a big joke, which won the Pulitzer Prize. His genius seems to be becoming. well articulated "In 1922, O'Neill is 34 years old, had already won the Pulitzer Prize for drama twice and does nothing less than reinventing - or rather invented - legitimate American theater. But Wilson was, as always, right: O'Neill was still finding his voice, his great works,

The Iceman Cometh

A Moon for the bastard and beautiful

Journey Into Night Long Day

, which many consider the pinnacle of the century American theater of the 20th, were still to come. The public will Soon the opportunity to judge Long Day's Journey Into Night for themselves, like a revival of O'Neill's masterpiece, starring David Suchet as the father James Tyrone, opened in the West End next week, exactly 100 years after the game unfolds. O'Neill is the only American playwright to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, the playwright and the only one who has won four Pulitzer Prizes. He introduced the psychological and social realism to the American scene, he was among the first to use American slang, and focus on those marginalized by society. Before O'Neill American theater consisted of melodrama and comedy, it was the first author of the United States to take seriously the drama as aesthetically and intellectually. He took very seriously, you can not accuse him of frivolity O'Neill. Of the 50 completed projects, O'Neill wrote only one comedy apparent Ah, Wilderness! (1933), and even plot its hinges on drunkenness, prostitution desire, revenge and repressed. Of course, most of O'Neill works involve drunkenness, prostitution, revenge and repressed desire, Ah, Wilderness! is the only one who realizes a happy ending, although

A Moon for the Misbegotten (1946) supports the possibility of forgiveness, to the conclusion that O'Neill seems downright giddy.

his first popular success was Emperor Jones

in 1920, followed by a series of plays, including Anna Christie

and Desire Under the Elms

in 1924. That same year also saw Everything God Chillun has wings

, an unprecedented exploration of race relations that led to hate mail and bomb threats. Strange Interlude

won a Pulitzer Prize in 1928, three years later, O'Neill end Mourning Becomes Electra . In 1936 he was awarded the Nobel Prize 10 years later, there was

The Iceman Cometh

, closely followed by

A Moon for the bastard

• , both were badly received. He died in 1953, after asking that
• Long Day's Journey Into Night
• be retained on the scene until 25 years after his death. His widow published three years later, which was published in 1957 and immediately recognized it as a triumph, winning his final, O'Neill, posthumous Pulitzer and causing a renaissance

Its importance can not be overstated: without O'Neill, there would have been no Arthur Miller or Tennessee Williams, not to mention David Mamet and Sam Shepard. However, in general, his works are long, arduous, difficult, demanding, O'Neill told a reporter before the

The Iceman Cometh

tried to reduce open 45 minutes but he managed only 15: "You have to run from 8 am cursed still as now - maybe a quarter to 12 repetitions, if there are going to stay there because I think they are absolutely necessary for what I do. I'm overcome. "

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